Happy Birthday enters public domain following legal settlement

Following a three-year legal battle, Happy Birthday to You, one of the world’s most recognisable songs in the English language, has been placed in the public domain in the US.

Details of the legal settlement between Warner/Chappell Music and a group of artists and filmmakers were not disclosed in the court papers (dated December 9) however the song is now free for public use without the need to pay royalty.

To explain further, film and television producers no longer have to pay license fees to use the song, which can range from $500 for a basic license to up to six figures for a major motion picture.

“While we respectfully disagreed with the court’s decision, we are pleased to have now resolved this matter,” Warner/Chappell said in a statement.

The class-action lawsuit was filed against Warner/Chappell in 2013 by Good Morning to You Productions. The production company paid the label $1,500 to use the song in a documentary and claimed that Warner/Chappell owed it millions of dollars in music synch licenses, which the label collected following the film’s release.

It May US District Judge George Kingenquired into whether copyright was abandoned on the lyrics to Happy Birthday to You, and in September ruled that Warner/Chappell did not own the copyright to the Happy Birthday lyrics.

Happy Birthday’s beginnings reach back to 1893 when schoolteacher Patty Hill Smith and her sister Mildred Hill composed the song. It was initially titledGood Morning to All. The sisters sold their rights to the Clayton F. Summy Company, who registered individual copyrights to the melody in 1893, the lyrics in 1924 and the piano arrangement in 1935. Later, the song was held by Birch Tree Group Limited, which was purchased for $15 million by Warner/Chappell in 1988.

Happy Birthday To You is in public domain in Australia. The copyright term for sound recordings is currently 50 years and expires if created before 1 January 1955.

TMN has reached out to Warner/Chappell for comment.